WCCO gives abuser and murderer prime-time platform

What do you get in Minneapolis when you murder your estranged wife's co-worker?

You get a prime-time platform on local television and radio station WCCO.

Jeff Skelton wasn't happy with the coverage of the murder he was hearing while listening to the radio as he hid out from the cops, so he called the local station and whined. When I don't like what a local station runs, I call the station and nothing happens. But if you are a murderer on the lam, you get full-court coverage. They even have the taped interview on the WCCO web site so you can hear it and replay his vicious ideas over and over again. What a great public service!

I was steamed up enough to call the newsroom and complain. I also wrote an e-mail to the Minnesota Coalition on Battered Women. I've copied the e-mail below because I'm too angry to write up the events a second time for this blog:

-----------------

This is to alert you of a problem on WCCO news 10 p.m. coverage of the Skelton case. I watched the report today and immediately got on the phone to the newsroom. While this creep was hiding out from the cops he apparently contacted a WCCO radio reporter and blamed his wife for his actions. The report included snippits of the interview with the murderer in which Skelton basically blamed his wife for the murder of her friend. They noted that we lucky citizens can listen to this creep's entire interview by clicking a link on their website.

The report went on to explain that Skelton was not "unknown" by the police and that the murder victim had a restraining order against him.

What they did not do, at any time, was explain that this guy was a raving lunatic and that women had options in fighting against such a man. They made no reference to services available to women who are being abused. They had no expert on hand explaining how murderers and abusers always blame their victims. Nothing. Nada.

Basically, Skelton got himself a free platform for his vicious beliefs. One of the quotes they put on the air was that Skelton felt there should be some punishment for anyone who "breaks the commandments." I wonder how hard it would have been for WCCO to find a minister on a Sunday to explain that committing murder did not constitute proper punishment.

I immediately got on the phone and talked to a Mark (he wouldn't give me his last name) in the WCCO newsroom. I told him I was very upset by the report and how it included no information useful to women in a violent situation. He agreed and said that the reporter was unable to get a hold of a spokesperson from the domestic violence community before the report went on the air. He did say they were preparing a report that will run tomorrow about how women can get help.

I told him that if they had phone books in their offices, they had the information they needed in the blue pages and did not need a spokesperson to put that on the air. Mark agreed.

I told him that if I was still with my abuser and watched that program, he would have turned to me and said, "See what can happen if you say anything!" I told Mark his report put people in danger tonight and they were totally irresponsible.

I asked who made the decisions about this and he told me I should contact the assistant news director John Danzer. He was the one who made the decision to put the report on the air as is.

Mark also said, "I understand what you are saying and I agree with your conclusions."

I just wanted you to know what happened and I will support anything you want to do to make sure this doesn't happen again.

--------

If you live in Minnesota and/or are as appalled as I am about this, please take a moment to do something concrete to help out your local shelter, hotline or other service for women who are victims of abusive men.